Filling a void

Castellanos grew up on the South Side of Binghamton — graduating from Binghamton High School in 2005 — and met Sayarot while they both studied at Le Cordon Bleu California in San Fransisco.

Sayarot moved to Los Angeles for further training and Castellanos followed once he graduated from the culinary school in 2014. In Los Angeles, they worked at a couple of restaurants and later moved to the Philippines, where Sarayot was born and raised. They lived there for eight months and opened up a health food service.

But a little over a year ago, the couple moved to Binghamton to be closer to Castellanos' family.

Buy Photo

Nomikui Ramen is located on 21 Main Street in Binghamton.(Photo: Maggie Gilroy / Staff photo)

In Binghamton, Castellanos worked at Lampy's Restaurant in Endicott and later Thai Time in Binghamton. Sayarot also worked at Thai Time, where she made sushi.

The couple always wanted to open a restaurant together, and were in the process of designing and purchasing a Ramen food truck in Ithaca.

Meanwhile, they passed the Chatterbox on the way to work at Thai Time each day. Although it was open — and had been since 2015 — Castellanos was unable to tell from the outside.

"I always thought it was closed," Castellanos said. "And just on a whim we gave the owner of Chatterbox [Roger Pruitt] a call."

The couple asked Pruitt if he would consider leasing the building, and Pruitt agreed. He closed The Chatterbox on Nov. 14 with an abrupt Facebook post.

The couple had just three weeks to transform the space into a full Ramen restaurant, which they feel fills a void in the local culinary scene.

They enlisted the help of their family and quickly scrambled to decorate the space, craft a menu, create social media accounts, launch a website and finalize other details crucial to the restaurant's opening.

"It was always our dream to have a restaurant, we just weren't sure where were were going to do it," Castellanos said. "This just kind of fell into place."

'All recipes are her'

Sayarot was born and raised in Manila, Philippines, where she was inspired by the cooking of her her filipino-Chinese grandmother. According to Nomikui Ramen's website, Sayarot studied at the Center for Asian Culinary Arts in the Philippines and later took a baking course in Los Angeles.

After training in LA, she opened up a commissary business as a cake and pastry supplier in the Philippines. She later studied sushi making at the Sushi Chef Institute by Andy Matsuda in Los Angeles and received her Associate's degree in culinary at Le Coron Bleu California.

A mixture of locals (specifically from the Asian community) and Binghamton University graduate students have frequented the restaurant since its opening. But Castellanos hopes to target locals, especially those unfamiliar with Japanese and Asian cooking.

The restaurant is still new and is getting its footing. It's in the process of obtaining a liquor license (they plan to serve beer and sake) and changing the outdoor signage.

Buy Photo

Nomikui Ramen, located on 21 Main Street in Binghamton, occupies the space that previously housed The Chatterbox.(Photo: Maggie Gilroy / Staff photo)

They hope to host karaoke nights once a week and eventually branch out to open additional restaurants.

But this is the start of a long-held dream by the two new restaurateurs.

"We love cooking," Castellanos said. "I love people trying our food. Every time we send out the food and I talk to customers and they enjoy it, it makes me happy."

"Take a Bite" is a recurring series covering local eateries, unique dishes and what's new in the local food scene. Is there a culinary hot spot we need to visit or a stand-out dish we have yet to try? Email Maggie Gilroy at mgilroy@gannett.com or call 607-348-5142.